I'd put my head on the block and say our game is clean, says PFA chief Taylor after Anfield Champions League 'fix' claims

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor is adamant that English football is clean of match-fixing after reports that Liverpool's Champions League tie with Debrecen was rigged.

Dirk Kuyt scored the only goal in a Champions League tie at Anfield in 2009 when Debrecen goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic was allegedly paid to ensure Liverpool scored 'more than 2.5 goals'.

But PFA boss Taylor is so convinced that the English game is free of match-fixing, he told the Evening Standard: 'I would put my head on the block and say that football in this country is clean.'

Narrow win: Dirk Kuyt scored the only goal of the match in 2009

Players at all 92 league clubs were
warned earlier this season to report any approach about illegal betting
or match-fixing, according to Taylor, and advisers from the PFA visited
every club to spell out the dangers of becoming involved in such
activities.

It comes after Liverpool today
insisted they have had no contact from Europol or any other body in
connection with match-fixing allegations against Debrecen.

The European law enforcement agency
said one Champions League match played in England is under investigation
- and according to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Europol sources said they are looking at Hungarian side Debrecen.

There is no suggestion that anyone at Liverpool was involved in any wrongdoing.

PFA chief Taylor said the issue of match-fixing was 'very high on our agenda'.

Boom: Goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic sees Dirk Kuyt's shot hit the back of the net in the allegedly rigged match. There is no suggestion Liverpool were involved in any wrongdoing

He said: 'At the beginning of the
season we had a team going out to all the clubs telling the players
there should be no betting on any competition they have any association
with, and that any approaches should be reported to the authorities.

'We have had some problems with one
or two games in the recent past where players at Accrington Stanley and
Bury were charged and sanctioned, so although it is not commonplace in
our country we are not complacent or naive.

'We need to be vigilant at all levels of the game.'

The Europol investigation is centred on the Debrecen keeper Poleksic, according to Ekstra Bladet, who in 2010 was banned for two years by UEFA for failing to report an approach to fix matches for a betting syndicate.

But a Liverpool spokesman told the Press Association: 'We have had no contact from Europol or any other organisation over this.'

Ban: CAS upheld a two year ban for Poleksic after he failed to report being approached about match-fixing

Debrecen said they will not respond to the allegations.

'Neither DVSC or the player wants to
react to this news. Everything on this matter has been dealt with in
2010,' said a statement on the Hungarian club's website.

Poleksic failed to report that fixers
approached him before playing Fiorentina in October 2009 - the
Hungarian champions conceded four first-half goals to lose 4-3 - and the
Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the ban. It said it could not
prove the result was manipulated, but UEFA rules require players and
officials to report corruption attempts.

Europol have not detailed exactly
which Champions League match in England is under investigation but that
it took place 'in the last three to four years' and is one of 380 games
being studied.

However it emerged yesterday neither the Football Association nor UEFA were aware of any such probe.

Wales manager Chris Coleman said he
had been staggered at the number of matches revealed to be under
investigation and that it reflected badly on professional sport.

Casting doubt: Games in the Champions League and international matches are among those in question

Coleman said: 'I am gutted if I am honest with you, I am disappointed at the level of it. It is staggering, sad.

'When I worked abroad I saw one or two things that made me raise my eyebrows but the extent of this is really very sad.

'I have been in football a long, long
time and never doubted any referee, opposition players, and certainly
not my own. I've seen a ref have a bad game but never thought it was
because of corruption.

'I've worked abroad in two different
countries and things have happened on occasions and I have looked and
thought that was not quite right, never my own team, but maybe a
referee's decision, or something an opposition manager did.

'But when you look at the extent of the allegations it is sad. It is not good.

'It is not just football, we had the
thing with rugby a while back when they cheated with blood on the pitch
which was disgraceful, and we've had drugs with cycling, Lance Armstrong
is an absolute sporting legend and we find out what happened there, now
there all these allegations.

'Professional sport is not in a good place and people are looking at us as role models for kids.'